As can be seen by reference to the following U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,402,440; 3,780,919; 3,871,562; and 4,492,326 the prior art is replete with myriad and diverse soft infant carriers developed to assist a parent in transporting a child from one location to another.
While all of the aforementioned prior art constructions are more than adequate to fulfill their intended purpose and function, these devices do suffer from at least one major shared deficiency in that over an extended period of time the parent wearing the device begins to suffer from back strain. In addition, the infant carriers that support the child on the parent's chest cause much more strain on the parent's back than the knapsack style carriers.
In the latter version the child is supported in a piggyback fashion and due to the distribution of the childs weight higher on the parent's torso, coupled with the fact that by leaning forward the parent can shift the childs weight directly over the parent's pelvic area; the cumulative weight of the parent's upper torso and the child can be more evenly distributed over the parent's lower torso, thereby lessening the back strain imposed on the parent.
It should also be noted that given the fact that men and women have different centers of gravity with a woman's center of gravity being lower than that of a man's, the male parent prefers the knapsack style infant carrier that supports the child closer to his own center of gravity while the female parent prefers the chest supported carrier for similar reasons.
While the foregoing problems with the patented prior art constuctions represent relatively minor physical discomfort and/or aggravation in an urban environment, these problems become greatly magnified for active outdoor type parents that enjoy hiking, backpacking, and wilderness camping. Anyone who is familiar with these outdoor pursuits will quickly realize and appreciate the problems that are compounded, when it is necessary to physically transport a child over long distances and uneven terrain, in addition to carrying the gear and equipment that are normally associated with such endeavors.
Obviously there has existed a long felt need for a soft child carrier specifically designed for backpacker's, in as much as, the commercially available products are poorly suited for use in such a rugged environment; and, that specific objective has been satisfied by the development of the apparatus that forms the basis of this invention.